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In 1997, Michale Graves, then lead singer for the horror punk rock group the Misfits, found himself on tour in Germany at the site where the Berlin Wall once stood. He took home with him a piece of that wall and with a few years' time, a bold commitment to fighting the mindset that built it.

Punk rock is all about resisting the establishment. But punk rock itself has an establishment that is driven by Left wing, anti-war, anti-life, anti-faith politics. To scream, as Green Day does in its new CD "American Idiot," "I'm not a part of a redneck agenda" - is hardly a backlash against the cultural establishment; it is a blaring affirmation of pop cultural values. As a punk rocker himself, now as lead singer for Gotham Road, 29-year old Michale Graves may seem an unusual critic of his peers like Green Day in the genre, but he is determined to be a voice for change. Graves is a true warrior against the establishment.

"It's important that there be a new tone set throughout the music industry as well as the Hollywood community," Graves told me. "Pop culture today teaches young people that money is the end all be all, power, greed and the degradation of women is what is cool. The true spirit and soul of America was felt and seen in the days after September 11, 2001."

In those days following the attacks on America, the punk rock community pronounced great vitriol on the nation and on President Bush. And then, as Punkvoter.com announced the day after the 2004 election, "There's no f***ing way I am going to come together with these homophobic, flag-waving, god-fearing, gun-toting, uneducated, isolationist, ethnocentric REDNECKS. We live in a country that's in a shroud of ignorance. We do not compromise or come together with them. We fight them and everything they stand for."

Repulsed by the prevailing hate-America attitude within the punk rock community that was especially stirred by Punkvoter.com, Graves was involved in the founding of www.conservativepunk.com last January. "Conservative punk is definitely growing in popularity," said Graves. "The motivation behind con-punk came from the mobilization of bands and record companies across the board with the radical left and the Democratic party. What about all of us who thought differently than they did? Why couldn't we have our own opinions on things? Why should we be outcasts just because we don't agree? Who was going to challenge them? Who were they to define something that they had no right to claim?"

Conservative Punk answered to a market demand that Graves believes is growing amongst young, patriotic Americans who find themselves alienated from Left-wing establishment punk. "More young people are identifying themselves as conservative" because "the left in this country now ride on the America is all bad message. By blaming this country for all the ills and horrors of not only domestic problems but of the entire planet they have backed themselves into an intellectual corner that just doesn't resonate in the hearts of many people." While Graves believes that young people naturally tend to be more liberal, he recognizes a rapidly growing conservatism in young America. So even punk rock (who would have thought?) is joining the conservative movement.

While Anti-Flag belched, "die for your country? that's sh**!" and "F*** the flag and f*** you," Michale Graves wanted to send a different message. "I especially wanted to combat the negative views that were being put forth concerning our country and the men and women who were protecting it," he said.

And in August, Graves made his most patriotic act of all, by enlisting in the United States Marine Corps. "There are some who believe that my choice to serve arose overnight from some sort of publicity stunt or a desire to prove something in light of my outspokenness concerning conservative ideals and the election." But Graves says that there are higher ideals that inspired him to serve. "It is the pursuit of excellence, tradition, and strength that drives me to want to be a Marine."

Graves heads to U.S. Marine Corps basic training in January. He is proof that America is alive and well, that even behind the fake blood and the skulls of his old act, Michale Graves was not beyond the grace of God and the call of his country.

Graves is using his musical talents and fan base to reach young Americans with the message that America is worth fighting for. "The key to this country's future is education and inspiration," he says. "I believe it to be so important that young people learn our country's history. We must hold on to the moral and spiritual foundation that this country was founded and built upon."

"We also have to inspire young people by having role models of substance and strong ethical character," he says. And in a conservative punk Marine named Michale Graves is a truly substantial role model for young Americans.

Hans Zeiger

Hans Zeiger is president of the Scout Honor Coalition, spokesman for the Scouting Legal Defense Fund and a student at Hillsdale College

Great story...the power and pull of the Marine corps. Changed his ways????? I don't know about that...I'm sure the Drill Instructors are ramping up for this guy. Maybe we can get him to join us on Leatherneck.com. I'll be watching how this unfolds.